TRUSTEE AGAINST DRUGS NOT FOR LEGALIZING

Lal Sharma is not in favour of legalizing marijuana.

Furthermore, the rookie trustee says he's never used it and feels it's his
job as a trustee to encourage students to avoid drug use.

Sharma adds he's perplexed about rumours he advocated legalizing marijuana
during a board meeting Monday at Logan Lake.

He says comments he made during a presentation from Trustee Chris Rose may
have led to the misunderstanding. Rose was reporting favourably on his
visit to John Tod Elementary, where he attended a presentation by RCMP on
the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

Sharma, a DARE critic, noted a recent letter to the editor in Kamloops This
Week criticized the program.

Sharma said the letter writer was associated with a group which advocates
legalizing marijuana "and then I replied 'let's not badmouth people. Let's
talk about the issues.'

"Then I pointed out the president of Mexico (Vicente Fox) has said the war
against the drug cartels has been lost and I said 'whatever we have been
doing, hasn't worked.'"

Board chair Denise Harper agrees the situation has been taken out of context.

She says her understanding was Sharma was reciting information from the
letter to show he is not alone in criticism of DARE.

Trustee Sandy Mallory agrees, saying Sharma never advocated legalizing
marijuana.